Ready As I'll Ever Be
by DragonBookLoverKitkat913
Summary: This one-shot is a Christmas gift for a dear friend of mine. Hogwarts AU that mostly focuses on Varian (if you hadn't guessed from the title). Kind of based on Queen for a Day as well as other episodes but with major adjustments and Harry Potter style. Rated T just in case.


**Disclaimer****:** I do not own Harry Potter (books/movies/plays/etc,) nor do I own Disney's Tangled (movies/books/TV show/etc.). They belong to J.K. Rowling and Disney.

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Varian's family members had been placed in Gryffindor for the last three generations. Except for one person; Varian's mother. She was a genius who used her inventions to help make life easier for people in Old Corona, and she was the only person who understood Varian. Everyone else had given up hope on Varian ever being normal, but in his mother's eyes, being normal was overrated.

Unfortunately, she was gone from the young boy's world too soon and left Varian alone. His father tried to understand, but he was a serious, stoic man who never saw the point in messing around with science when Quirin had his own science; if it works, don't change it.

Hence the reason why Varian was so excited to go to Hogwarts, to begin with. He loved his father, there was no doubt about that. Especially after Varian's last experiment with some underground machines nearly destroyed Old Corona.

Varian stood in line to be sorted into a House and petted Rudiger in an attempt to calm his racing nerves. He really wanted to get into Ravenclaw, to have some kind of connection to his mom. Varian knew if he got in Gryffindor, his dad would be proud of him (for once), yet the thought of being in that particular House didn't feel right.

While he waited, he noticed a couple of people he recognized from the few times Varian had gone to Corona (the new one). There was Rapunzel, the happiest person alive and Head Girl of Hufflepuff. On the table in front of her was her chameleon, Pascal. Rapunzel had once told Varian the story about how Pascal had somehow managed to get underneath the Sorting Hat when she first arrived at Hogwarts. And whether it was pure luck or the Sorting Hat was just confused, Pascal had gotten sorted into Hufflepuff just like his friend.

Varian's eyes wandered from the Hufflepuff table and spotted someone else he knew. Rapunzel's boyfriend and reformed thief, Eugene, sat at the Gryffindor table beside his best friend, Lance. Varian had looked up to him growing up, and was on good terms with the older teen, though he got along a lot better with Rapunzel's best friend, Cassandra.

If Varian was honest with himself (which he usually wasn't) he had a little bit of a crush on the muggle-born Slytherin girl. She was just so brave and talented and was even training to go into the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol. Varian sighed to himself in content. At least he'd know someone if he got sorted into any other House than Ravenclaw.

"Varian Andrés," Old Lady Crowley- um, Mrs. Crowley, I mean, grumbled. She wasn't good with kids, so how she'd gotten a job as a teacher confused everyone. Even Dumbledore couldn't quite recall why he'd given her the job. Maybe it was because she was related to Professor McGonagall or one of the other teachers.

Varian walked up the few steps and sat on the stool, and let Rudiger rest by his feet. The hat was dropped onto his head and Varian felt more anxious than he had when he'd gotten his acceptance letter.

"Hmm. Lots of brains. Potential for talent," the Hat stated. A few seconds passed before it (he?) spoke again. "There's a line between being a genius and being completely insane. Be wary not to cross that line. Ravenclaw!"

The wizards and witches at the Ravenclaw table clapped like the other tables did when they received new members, though Varian could tell most of the kids were just doing it to be polite. But as Varian picked up Rudiger and made his way to the table, he heard cheers from the Hufflepuff table. He shot a grateful smile to Rapunzel, who waved excitedly despite the attempts other students around her made to try and stop the enthusiastic blonde.

A few days later, during Varian's free period, he met up with Rapunzel, Eugene, and Cassandra in one of the school's gardens. Rapunzel had decided to paint the school crest (with her own creative twist, of course) on a large canvas set up on an easel. Meanwhile, Cassandra practiced a new spell she learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. And Eugene was sprawled across a bench, sound asleep, so Varian decided to sit on the ground beside said bench.

He noticed more black rocks scattered throughout the garden, though they weren't nearly as large back at Old Corona. Varian felt his good mood turn sour as he remembered how many of the strange rocks had taken over his home. He shook his head to try to clear his mind of the negative thoughts and chose to focus on something else.

As Varian looked at his friends, he observed that Cassandra's wand looked eerily similar to the mysterious black rocks. Her wand changed colors based on her emotions, such as red for fear, blue with anger, and black for, well, anything else. When Varian had tried to ask Cassandra where she got the wand back when she had visited Old Corona right before the school year began, she had just smiled and said that it was a secret.

Rapunzel's was considerably different from Cassandra's, as she had an applewood wand with a unicorn hair core that had surprising flexibility. It had gold plating that encased the wand and mini-jewels embedded in it. Not that anyone at the school ever saw her use it. She preferred to use an enchanted paintbrush that could bring her works of art to life (if she said the right incantation).

The magical object had a golden sun and a pale blue crescent moon painted on it, the sun matching the one painted on Rapunzel's signature frying pan aka her weapon of choice. How the girl who hardly ever used her wand was one of Hogwarts top students was beyond Varian, but he felt like the paintbrush and frying pan suited the blonde a lot more than any old wand.

Just like how the wand Eugene suited the Gryffindor student perfectly. His was made out of hazelwood and the former thief had actually made it himself when he was younger. It was twisted and looked more like a giant key than an actual wand. But if Eugene said a specific spell, the wand would shrink down for him (and no one but him) and could pick any lock. He and Lance used it many times back in their thieving days. And while Varian didn't know for sure, he was certain Eugene still used his wand to get into places he wasn't supposed to be in.

Still, Varian preferred his wand over his friends, as the somewhat gnarled shaped wand made out of walnut wood could grow into a large staff if he wanted it to. The wand had troll whiskers as a core, which both excited and freak Varian out. But Ollivander was never wrong and said the wand had 'chosen' the young teen. Since the wand felt so comfortable in his hand, and it never failed him, Varian figured he was right.

Except for that darn Lumos spell that wouldn't work for Varian. But he had special potions he could tie to the staff-version of his wand that would glow in the darkest of nights, so not knowing the spell was alright with the young wizard.

"EEK!"

Varian was drawn out of his thoughts when he heard Rapunzel shriek in surprise as Ruddiger was chased by Owl and ran right into the paint cans. Most of the paint cans were already empty, except for the ones filled with blue and silver. Cassandra whistled for Owl to stop, so Ruddiger stopped running. Rapunzel, Cassandra, and Varian (not Eugene because he was still asleep somehow) looked at the raccoon.

Ruddiger's tail, which was supposed to have black-and-white stripes, had somehow got perfect blue-and-silver stripes. It was like someone had colored in the lines. And the fact that Ruddiger's owner was in Ravenclaw, and the raccoon had the same colors on his tail, caused Rapunzel and Varian to burst into laughter and even dragged a few chuckles from Cassandra. Somehow, Eugene slept through it all.

Varian tried to wipe the smile off of his face when he picked up Ruddiger, who did _not _look amused. "Don't worry, bud. A simple cleaning spell will fix you all up."

"I don't know, Varian. He looks better like that," Cassandra smirked as she sat down on the ground and pet Owl, who had swooped down onto her lap. Ruddiger blew a raspberry before he ran towards a small pond to clean himself up.

"He loves ponds, and not just for cleaning," Varian commented. "His favorite one was right by our house and he'd go there for hours every day...until the black rocks grew right in the middle of it. Dad doesn't let him go there anymore. It's one of the reasons why Dad wanted to send me here. To get away from the rocks."

Rapunzel clasped a hand on Varian's shoulder gently. "The rocks have been a burden to my father too. The borders of Corona have tons of these, and some have gotten inside the kingdom, just like yours."

"No, it's not," Varian sighed. "Look, when my dad went to tell yours about the situation in Old Corona...he lied. Things have gotten worse."

"How much worse?"

"A lot worse," Varian thought back to the agreement he and Rapunzel had made, the one where he, Rapunzel, and Cassandra would figure out the mystery of the black rocks. But that had been a while back, and Rapunzel seemed so busy with her Head Girl responsibilities at Hogwarts that he figured she'd forgotten.

"We are going to figure out the mystery behind these rocks. Together," Rapunzel reassured. "Everything is gonna be okay. I promise."

Varian beamed at the older girl, even more so when Cassandra nodded in agreement. With two of the strongest, bravest girls in Corona on his side, Varian had no doubt that the whole situation would work out.

The sweet moment was interrupted by a familiar neigh. The young witches and the non-sleeping wizard turned to see Max, who stood over Eugene. With a snort, Max raised his hoof and hit the spot right by Eugene's head, which startled the young man awake.

"Ah! Max, what on earth are you doing here?!" Eugene exclaimed as he sat up and rubbed his forehead irritably. "The old man in charge told you not to leave the stable on your own."

Varian spotted a scroll that was barely visible poke out from Max's satchel bag. He also noticed Hamuel on Max's back, the raven that always seemed to follow Eugene _everywhere_. Hamuel wasn't exactly the most, uh, gifted bird in the animal kingdom. But Max usually didn't deliver letters, so Varian figured it was safe to assume Max had bumped into Hamuel with the scroll and decided to deliver it to Eugene himself. "Um, I think he has a message for you."

Eugene rolled his eyes before he grabbed the scroll to read. Cassandra smirked and crossed her arms as she and Rapunzel sat down on the bench previously occupied by a certain Gryffindor member. At the serious expression on Eugene's face, Cassandra couldn't help but tease the ex-thief. "What's the matter, Fitzherbert? Your favorite shampoo been discontinued?"

"Is everything okay?" Varian asked. Eugene crumpled the scroll and pushed Hamuel out of the way as he mounted onto Max. Rapunzel looked like she was going to say something, but Eugene spoke first.

"Not now, Blondie."

"Why? Eugene, what's wrong?" Rapunzel frowned worriedly. Eugene looked like he was in a daze, and didn't seem to hear his girlfriend's concerned voice.

"Everything I ever thought I knew...I wonder who I am?" was all Eugene said before he took off.

"Eugene!" Rapunzel exclaimed. She looked around frantically before she spotted a broom nearby. "Sorry, I need to borrow this!"

And with that, she was gone, which left Varian and Cassandra alone. Varian looked down and awkwardly rubbed his arm. "So, um, that was totally weird, right?"

"Not with those two. They're always running off, doing their own thing. It's next to impossible to keep up," Cassandra replied with an irritated scowl on her face. Yet there was a soft tone in her voice, and if Varian hadn't known better, he would've thought she sounded...sad. "Some of us are stars, and some are just in the way. I know I was meant for glory, but that's never what my story brings. And yet I keep on waiting."

Varian nodded, though he wasn't sure what Cassandra was talking about. But it reminded him of something he had heard a few days before, back when he was sorted into Ravenclaw. "That kind of sounds like something the Sorting Hat said. He told me there was a line between...well, something and something else. I can't quite remember what the line was separating, though."

He wasn't sure what he had just said, but it seemed to cheer Cassandra up, so it seemed to have been the right thing to say. Cassandra ruffled his hair and smiled slightly. "You're right; there's a line between the chosen and the rest. And I'm done holding back. I'm taking what's mine."

"Wait, what?" Varian hadn't noticed earlier, but Cassandra's wand had slowly gotten brighter throughout their conversation. And as she spoke, it became a pale shade of blue.

"I'm crossing the line," Cassandra stated firmly, and with that, her wand became a vibrant shade of blue. She scooped up Owl and ran off, leaving Varian confused about what had just happened.

Just as Varian had decided to shrug off the weird conversation, he thought he saw a flash of blue similar to the color of Cassandra's wand follow the dark-haired girl. He figured it was just a ghost, such as Sir Nick, so he just picked up Ruddiger and went on with his day. After all, it was Hogwarts. Weird stuff happened all the time.

Though after a few weeks had gone by with hardly a word from his friends, Varian admitted to himself (and Ruddiger) that maybe things had gotten weirder than normal. His thoughts were reaffirmed when he was called into Dumbledore's office one rainy afternoon.

While Varian had never been the most well-behaved child growing up, he had never gotten sent to the Headmaster's office. Okay, maybe he had but he had sworn to do a lot better at Hogwarts. The only time Varian got in trouble was for his inventions causing mischief, so he started to hide them in the second-floor laboratory.

As soon as Varian had gone up the magical staircase and opened the door to Dumbledore's office, Varian saw a familiar face he hadn't expected.

"Dad?"

"Thank you, Professor Dumbledore. I'll take it from here," Quirin shook hands with the older man and placed a firm hand on his son's shoulder as they walked out of the office. "Varian, I came as soon as I got your letter."

"What letter- ?" Varian cut himself off as he recalled writing a letter to his father a few days ago. He had included pictures he had drawn of the black rocks at school, and even mentioned Eugene and his strange reaction to the message Hamuel had brought him. But Varian had no clue what in that letter compelled his father to leave Old Corona, let alone make the lengthy trip to Hogwarts. "What about it?"

"I hadn't expected the black rocks to appear here. I told Dumbledore that it's the work of a dark wizard, and I told the mayor that too," Quirin replied as they walked out past the courtyard, to the edge of school grounds where most of the rocks had taken root (so to speak).

Varian looked up at his father in shock. "What? But you told the townspeople you would tell the mayor of Corona about the black rocks. Old Corona is being destroyed!"

"Old Corona will endure," Quirin spoke in a hushed tone as if he feared someone would eavesdrop despite the fact that he and Varian seemed completely and utterly alone. "You'll have to trust that I can handle this."

"How? How can I trust anything when my own father lied to the headmaster's and the mayor's faces?" Varian pulled away from his far and walked closer to one of the black rocks as he attempted to put some distance between him and his father. He pulled out a small vial filled with a yellow liquid. Quirin's eyes opened wide in realization.

"Varian, I told you to stay away from those rocks!"

"Um, yeah, okay. I-I know what you said, but-"

"Then there should be no misunderstanding! Now listen to me. You-" Quirin went to reach for his son's hand, but his extended arm was swatted away by Varian, who took a step back. What neither of the men noticed was that as Varian took a step back, the vial was knocked to the ground. Nor did they notice how the black rocks began to turn a bright yet ghastly shade of yellow, with what seemed to be thorn-like vines that sprouted up.

"No! No, you listen to me, Dad," Varian shouted. Every argument Varian could remember had always ended the same; with his father getting the last word and the young inventor was always forced to bite his tongue. But he didn't want to keep his mouth shut, not when it came to his home. "Our village is dying. You think running away from the problem is gonna fix it? No! These rocks aren't going away."

"I know, Varian, but there is more to them than you can possibly imagine."

"Then why won't you tell me? Dad! I just, well, I deserve to know."

"I am sorry, son. You are not ready," Quirin sighed and turned around. He slipped off his right glove to look at something, but before he could put it back on, he noticed something that glowed behind his child. "Varian, watch out!"

"Oh!" Varian wasn't able to react quick enough, but Quirin was. He pushed Varian out of the way as an amber-like stone (or whatever it was) began to envelop him. "Dad! Dad! Oh! Hold on, Dad. Hold on. I'll...I'll get you out."

"No! Stay back!"

To Varian's horror, his father was soon encased in strange amber stone, the only part of him not covered in the mysterious substance was his hand, with a strange circular mark, with three lines that crossed halfway into said circle. But that's a story for a different day.

Varian looked around frantically and was relieved to see Ruddiger make his way towards the dark-haired boy, followed by Head Chef Attila and Professor Hookfoot. Varian let the two adults take his father to the infirmary and ran towards the Hufflepuff dorm room, with Ruddiger in tow.

As he made his way there, he sang to himself, so quietly that anyone who happened to have heard him only heard a slight mutter, as if he was talking to himself.

"Maybe I make things a mess. And maybe you're right to have doubts in me. Maybe, but nevertheless, if you could once just trust me. Just this once let me come through for you, the way that you want me to. Let me make you proud. Just you wait, I'll make it up to you if it's the last thing I do. I will make you proud."

Varian used the password Rapunzel had given him to get into the Hufflepuff Common Room. But as he entered the room, he noticed it was a lot colder than it should've been. It was so cold there was even snow. Inside. Students ran around in a state of panic, and in the center of all the chaos was the girl Varian needed to see.

"Rapunzel! My dad's in danger. You….you're the only one who can help. Please! You have to come to the edge of the school grounds with me! Now!"

Instead of moving, Rapunzel glanced around nervously, as if she was trying to search for something. Or someone. "Varian, what's wrong?"

"Please. Please, the rocks. They're encasing my dad," Varian grabbed Rapunzel's hand but she stood perfectly still. Varian knew something

"Encasing? What ...what are you saying?"

"Come! Come! See for yourself. You can help! I-I know you can!" Varian exclaimed as he looked over at the door, though he failed to notice Rapunzel motion for two boys to get closer to them. "You have a connection to these rocks."

"Varian, it's a state of emergency here," Rapunzel said apologetically. "I'm sorry. I-I-I can't help you! Not right now."

"No! No, no, no, no. Listen to me. My dad doesn't have much time," Varian tugged on Rapunzel's hands frantically, desperation in his voice. "You are the only one who can help. Rapunzel, please."

"Whatever the boy's problem, it must be set aside." Varian glanced up to see two older boys on both of his sides. Rapunzel nodded solemnly and they grabbed Varian by his arms, and a third boy appeared to carry Ruddiger.

"No, no, no, please! Please, Rapunzel, you promised you'd help me!" Varian begged as he was pulled away. "You promised. Rapunzel! My dad needs help! Ow!"

"No! Don't hurt him," Rapunzel pleaded when she heard Varian cry of pain. And just like that, Rapunzel had disappeared from sight and Varian was left alone on the staircase, Ruddiger in his arms.

"You promised! You promised!" Varian whispered brokenly to himself. While he walked away, he could hear Rapunzel's voice faintly, speaking some kind of incantation.

"Wither and decay. End this destiny. Break these earthly chains. And set the spirit free. The spirit free."

Varian wiped tears from his eyes as he made his way to a place where he could get some privacy. The second-floor girl's laboratory, home of Moaning Myrtle and Ruthless Ruth. Ruth was an alright ghost, who sung amusing songs whenever Varian worked on his experiments.

But to Varian's surprise, neither of the usual ghosts were in the laboratory. In their place was a much smaller ghost dressed as a young lady born into nobility from a couple of centuries ago. "Who are you?"

"Who I am doesn't matter," the young ghost replied in a prim voice. "I saw your father in the infirmary. Such a dreadful thing to have happened. I suppose that Rapunzel girl you went to get help from was perhaps too busy to deal with such a 'trifle thing. Sometimes the most painful truths can be the most difficult-"

Varian wasn't able to hear the rest of what she said as she phased through a wall and left Varian and Ruddiger completely alone. How the ghost knew what had just happened was unknown to Varian, but at that moment he didn't really care.

Rapunzel had gone back on her word. Varian scoffed as she remembered something she had once said, about how she _never_ broke a promise.

Varian pulled out a small stash of neon-colored potions that filled up small clear vials. He shook each of the vials up and made them glow brightly before he used twine to tie them to his wand, which he then made grow into a staff.

'_Dad used to ask if learning the Lumos spell would be easier than this, and I'd always say it wasn't,'_ Varian thought fondly as packed all his potions and inventions into his enchanted backpack that could fit his entire village if he wanted it to.

A soft voice called out to Varian, who couldn't hear how sinister the voice sounded. Ruddiger, however, could and the small raccoon went to hide as far away from Varian and the voice as he could get.

The voice gave Varian instructions to open a passageway to something, something that could help him. Varian did as he was told, singing softly as he did so.

"I will make you proud. Get the answers and set you free. Don't you worry, whatever it may take, I'm finding a way," Varian tightly clenched his fist when he thought about Rapunzel and how angry she had made him. How dare she turn him away when he needed her help? "And I swear right now, that no matter what comes of me, anybody who stands or stood in my path, they are going to pay. They...will...pay."

He stepped back and watched an entrance to...something appear on the floor. Something Varian had only heard rumors about. Something known as...the Chamber of Secrets.

Varian took one last look around to make sure no one saw him. He sighed in relief when the only one he saw was Ruddiger. He jumped down and watched his vials light up a forgotten hallway. Varian looked up just once before he continued on his way, and whispered in a hushed tone.

"Read as I'll ever be."

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**AN:** This one-shot was a present for my friend, Daisy, because she loves Tangled the Series (especially Varian) and she also likes Harry Potter (not as much but still). So, two birds, one stone. I had to adapt/change some stuff, such as making Varian young enough so it was his first year and Rapunzel not being actual royalty, to make the story work. But I did keep the conversation Varian had with his father almost exactly the same. I couldn't think of a better way to write it, and why mess with perfection? That's why I included a LOT quotes from the original episode (Queen for a Day, season 1).

Also, I put in some song lyrics that weren't sung until season 2 & 3 (leave a review if you noticed them) but I wanted to include those lines in the story even if I had to shorten it considerably. If you don't like that, I'm sorry and hope you can get over it. Merry Christmas (or happy whatever holiday you celebrate if any) and Happy New Year.

**\- Kitkat Out!**


End file.
